


lights will guide you home

by orphan_account



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 03:38:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14228385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Before he can stop himself, he reaches for it, pulls up his sleeve, and writes - in case his soulmate is seeing all of this, in case his soulmate knows, just in case, perhaps, his soulmate is Cinder, even though she’d made it clear that she didn’t want to go with him -Meet me at the ball?





	lights will guide you home

**Author's Note:**

> so i just finished reading the lunar chronicles in the span of five days and then i sat down and this was supposed to be short but somehow it became 3.5k words and of _course_ it's soulmate au because i am Weak.
> 
> title is from _fix you_ by coldplay.

Kai is hardly five years old when he sees firsthand the legend of soulmates. He’s only heard stories up until that point, but it is at his mother’s funeral, his hand grasping his father’s in grief, in solidarity, that he sees the mark that travels up his father’s fingers, spiraling upward into his sleeves. It’s a beautiful silvery-gray, the color of the moon, glowing against his father’s pale skin.

When the funeral is over, Kai rushes to his room and pulls out the calligraphy brush from its stand on his desk. With careful, slow movements, he traces out letters across his palm. _Hi,_ it says, shaky and childish despite his best efforts. Kai smiles, proud of himself nevertheless, and sets the pen away. He bounds over to his bed, barely able to contain his anticipation.

Seconds pass, and then minutes, and still nothing appears anywhere in response. Kai checks his hands, both front and back, his feet, and even rolls up the silk sleeves of his white _changpao_ to look at the pale skin of his arms in the mirror. Nothing. Kai figures his soulmate is just asleep, perhaps, or stuck at some stuffy dinner affair, unable to get away and write a message back.

He checks again, the next day, and the day after that, meticulously retracing the words where they’ve started to vanish. Eventually, the days turn to weeks, the weeks turn to months, and then to years, and by the time Kai is eighteen years old and ready to ascend to the throne of the Eastern Commonwealth, the ink has long since faded, and with it, any hope he’s had of his soulmate being found.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

He first meets the pretty mechanic - Linh Cinder - he reminds himself that she has a _name_ , she’s not just the _pretty mechanic_ \- at the market, when she tells him that she’ll try to fix Nainsi. When she says it, he feels like she’ll fix her for sure. It’s something under the subtle, warm, beauty she exudes - a kind of quiet confidence, built on years of honing her skills. She’s good, and she knows it, and Kai leaves the market center that day feeling more relieved that he’s been in ages.

When he gets home, he surprises himself by tugging his calligraphy brush off of its stand, still on the corner of his desk where it’s always been. He pushes up the sleeve of his worn grey hoodie, and writes, _Hi_ along his forearm. He shakes his head a little bit after it’s done - it’s been thirteen years and he still hasn’t managed to come up with a more charming introduction - but still he sits, expectant, waiting. He laughs at himself, a little. How childish he’s being.

A reply comes in a few minutes, splotchy and uneven. It kind of looks like engine grease, he thinks, like the patch Linh Cinder had on her forehead in the back of the hot, messy, stall, her bangs hanging over it in a way that was somehow cute, even a bit endearing.

_Who are you?_ it asks. Kai chuckles a little. So direct.

_Prince Kai_ , he writes back, so giddy at receiving a response that he does it before considering the possibilities. He half-expects the gossip forums about him to explode across his portscreen, “journalists” writing articles about how some lucky girl in the Earthen Union has found herself the soulmate of Prince Kaito of the Eastern Commonwealth himself.

Instead, he finds words on his skin again, somehow even messier than before. _No, really_ , it says. The irreverence of the message makes Kai laugh. No one has talked to him like that in a long time - well, not after they find out who he is anyway.

_No, I’m not joking_ , he replies, unsure of what else he can send to prove his identity. He wonders how many boys have tried to reply as him, trying to impress the person on the receiving end of their messages. Maybe he’s naive, or a little old-fashioned, but he feels like there’s really no point pretending to your soulmate - a soulmate, to him, is someone you can be yourself with, be honest to.

He sits there, lost in thought, until a message on his portscreen jerks him out of his reverie. It’s from Torin, reminding him of some diplomatic meeting. His eyes dip to his arms, and he notes, with just a bit of disappointment, that there is no message waiting for him.

_Maybe they just got distracted_ , he thinks. He quickly changes out of his hoodie and jeans into something more appropriate - a red formal shirt and dark dress slacks before heading off to the meeting.

When he returns after and changes into his pajamas - a comfortable t-shirt and sweatpants - he takes one last look at his arm, but disappointingly, it’s still the same as it was before. Maybe they got a little creeped out by his insistence that he was Prince Kai. Maybe he just had to give them a little space, let them think about it and come to terms with it.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

The next time he runs into Cinder is when he’s headed to Dr. Erland’s lab, eager to hear any news about his progress on the letumosis antidote.

She’s rushing through the hallway, face deep in thought. Her hair is pulled into the same messy ponytail he’d seen her in before. The way she moves is so full of surety, and the way she bites her lip as she’s concentrating -

“Oh!” she says, stopping suddenly in front of him. “Prince Kaito - I mean - Your Majesty - “

“Please,” he says, trying to not think about just how cute Cinder sounds when she’s flustered and just a bit tongue-tied. “Just call me Kai.”

“Well, um, Prince - Kai,” she says, haltingly. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“It’s nice to see you too,” he says, and is a little surprised at how much he means it. “About Nainsi - I mean, I know I shouldn’t be expecting any royal treatment, and I’m sure you have _tons_ of other clients, but -“

“I’m sorry,” she says. Kai feels himself melt just a little at the way she bites her lips again, but forces himself to stay composed. “I just - I’ve been working on something else, but I’ll get to it by the end of the week - I know you wanted it by the festival, and I really do think I can get it fixed by then, so -“

“It’s fine,” Kai says, despite how much he her to keep talking. “I’m sure you’ll do an excellent job.”

She nods thankfully. “Well, if that’s all, I should be going,” she says, moving to pass him in the corridor. Without thinking, Kai reaches out and grabs her wrist.

She looks at him, shocked. Kai looks shocked, himself, quickly letting go of her. He ignores how warm she’d felt under his palm, and against his better judgement - because he’s starting to _really_ like Cinder, and because he _really_ doesn’t want to go to the ball with Levana, and because it’s not like his soulmate or whatever is answering him anyway - he asks, “Would you like to be go to the festival with me?”

Cinder gapes at him. He tries his best to stay calm, composed, but really his insides are all in turmoil and his breakfast is swirling in his stomach and he feels al little bit embarrassed and sheepish and hopeful all at once. “I mean - that is, if you didn’t already have a date - I’m sure there are plenty of people who have already asked you -“

“Um,” she says, breaking off his rambling. “I’m not really - I don’t think - I wasn’t planning to go..“

It sounds like a _no_ , and Kai isn’t used to hearing no. But he’s been raised better than that, and so he gives her a smile, a small weak thing, and says, “I understand. I’m sorry if I caused you any distress.”

She gives him a small sheepish smile back, running her fingers through her bangs, a nervous tic that Kai also finds impossibly adorable. “I’m really sorry,” she says, “I have to go now - The shop - yeah,” and with a curtsy, she disappears.

Kai slumps against the wall, ignoring the curious look of a lab assistant that walks by. His face feels so warm against his hands, embarrassment sweeping over him. He acted like such a _fool_ , he thinks, grinning a bit wryly against his fingers, but he is surprised to find that, thinking back on it, he doesn’t really mind.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

It’s the night of the ball and Kai is sitting alone in his room, staring at the silver-grey _changpao_ that Nainsi has draped across his bed. It’s what he’s supposed to wear to tonight’s ball, the color representing the moon and the future alliance that will come from his marriage, but all it does is make him think of Levana, and all that does is make him want to retch.

Nainsi knocks against the door, three sharp, robotic raps. “Master?” she calls.

“5 more minutes,” he yells back. His gaze darts back to his desk, to the calligraphy pen that still rests in its corner. Before he can stop himself, he reaches for it, pulls up his sleeve, and writes - in case his soulmate is seeing all of this, in case his soulmate knows, just in case, perhaps, his soulmate is Cinder, even though she’d made it clear that she didn’t want to go with him - _Meet me at the ball?_

He takes care that the draping sleeves of his _changpao_ cover the words, and steps out into the hallway. Nainsi’s lights flash, her equivalent of a smile.

“You look wonderful, Master,” she says. Kai flashes her a quick smile.

“Let’s get this over with.”

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Getting the ball over with, however, it significantly more difficult than Kai anticipated.

It starts when a guard suddenly announces “Please welcome Linh Cinder,” and some other nonsense that Kai doesn’t catch because he’s too busy looking at the top of the stairs, where Cinder is standing, brown hair cascading down her back, messy bangs across her forehead as usual. But she’s dressed in a ball gown - a bit rumpled, and dirty, but still, she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. _Stars_ is the only thing Kai can think as she begins to run down the steps.

There’s a whole lot of stuff that happens in the middle - warnings of a conspiracy plot, of his murder (which he is, unsurprisingly, unsurprised about) - Levana yelling (also unsurprising) - a dramatic kiss (surprising) - more yelling.

It ends, however, when Cinder somehow manages to evade Levana’s grasp - her gift - and takes a tumble into the gardens. Kai immediately runs over to the stairs where he sees a metal foot somewhere on a middle stair, and Cinder herself in a heap on the ground, desperately trying to cover a leg of metal.

“You’re -“ he starts, before Cinder shifts and he sees her right arm against the grass.

It says, in familiar brushwork, “Meet me at the ball?”

Kai gasps as Cinder moves quickly to cover it again. Levana runs up behind him, dragging her skirts, fury rolling off her body.

“You,” Levana forces through clenched teeth, voice dripping in spite, but in that moment, Cinder shimmers before his very eyes, replaced by another image of her - it’s still Cinder, he can tell, but with angular cheekbones, beautiful, full lips, eyes glowing like the sunset. She’s beautiful - but she’s not _Cinder_ , not the girl he’s grown to be fond of, with a quiet confidence, warm, understated beauty, messy bangs hiding grease stains and sparkling eyes.

“You’re even more painful to look at than she is,” he says, before the words fully register - before he’s considered the best way to say it, the way he usually lets words sit in his mouth and coaxes them into the most diplomatic, the most _proper_ way to say them.

She flinches, and Kai feels regret wash over him, but before he can apologize, or explain, or do anything, Levana shrieks behind him, “Arrest her!”

Guards rush forward, but Kai stays rooted where he is, head spinning. He hardly registers as they haul her off the ground and carry her away. The pretty mechanic he’d met in the market center seems so far away, and in its place there is Cinder - a cyborg, a Lunar.

His soulmate.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

It only strikes him several days later that this explains why his soulmate hasn’t been broadcast across the entire net by now. Any girl, he think, would be giddy with the prospect of realizing her soulmate was Prince Kai, and would have immediately gone to share it with her friends and anonymous people across the gossip forums.

His thoughts flicker back to Cinder, who is, clearly, not just any girl. She doesn’t seem like the kind of person to concern herself with things like _gossip forums_ , but it still bothers him that she’d suddenly stopped replying a week ago. He didn’t think he’d done anything to scare her off, really - he’d asked her to fix Nainsi, and asked her to the Festival (ok, well, maybe that was a bit forward) but nothing to warrant full radio silence.

A comm from Torin flashes across his screen, the reminder of yet another diplomatic meeting. He puts thoughts of Cinder aside. He doesn’t have time for that, now, anyway, with the precarious state of their relationship with Luna and all that other diplomatic stuff that needs to be taking care of.

Sometimes, Kai thinks it might have been nice to have been born as a normal citizen, growing up in a normal household, having a normal teenager-hood making friends and seeking out his soulmate and not having to worry about imploding the entire world with a single decision. He sighs, discarding that fantasy, as he has so many times, and makes his way down the hall, toward the council room.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

What greets him immediately pushes any lingering thoughts of Cinder, of his soulmate, of any other life he could have lived out of his head.

None of that matters, he thinks, as he watches Levana’s wolfen soldiers slaughter people across the Commonwealth, across the entire Earthen Union. He has no choice, has never had a choice, because in reality, he is Emperor Kaito - will never be some normal citizen, or _just Kai_ \- and Levana - cold, vicious Levana - has made his country bleed. She’s tied his hands behind his back and forced him to watch as she tears it to shreds. The crown on Kai’s head feels impossibly heavy when he tells everyone else to leave, and when he tells Torin to comm Levana, and when he offers her the only card he has left.

_I’m sorry_ , he writes on his palm, sitting alone in his room, shaking with something between rage and despair, after he just spent fifteen minutes in his bathroom scrubbing at his mouth, trying to get rid of the disgusting taste of the words he had to say.

He doesn’t really need to say it. It’s not like Cinder had shown any interest in him, or had shown anything beyond a casual mechanic-client relationship, but still, he hopes, that maybe she’d felt something too. Or maybe it would be better if he didn’t - then he wouldn’t have hurt her, the first girl he’d cared about in - well, ever, really.

No response comes.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

At least, until several days later when the words _Get ready_ suddenly materialize. He groans. The entire palace is in lockdown, Levana is probably somewhere screaming her head off, Torin looks like he is literally about to tear his hair out, and Kai himself hasn’t slept more than a few hours in the last two days.

Cinder barrels through the door. Kai attempts to keep himself composed, even though his heart is doing backflips at the knowledge that Cinder is back, standing right in front of him, and might actually keep him from having to marry Levana, which, despite his life possibly being in danger, makes him very relieved.

“Kai,” she says, flexing an ungloved, metal hand nervously. “You need to come with us.”

Torin steps in front of him. “What do you think you’re doing?” he says, voice hard as steel.

“We’re going to stop Levana,” Cinder says. Her voice, her entire aura, seems harsher than it was before. Rougher, but also more confident. “But we need Kai to do it.”

Kai steps forward, but Torin puts his arm out, stopping him. “You’re a fugitive and a terrorist. We can't trust anything you say.”

Cinder grimaces. “Guess we’ll do this the hard way,” she says, and then, everything goes black.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Kai wakes up confused and groggy. All around him is metal. He’s definitely not in the palace anymore, but he gets up anyway. He’s still dressed in his wedding finery, which makes him feel a bit out of place, but he steps out of the doorway, into a massive, cavernous space also completely made of metal.

A window next to him catches his eye and he runs over in disbelief. Outside, he can see _Earth_ , green and white and blue and beautiful. Stars twinkle all around him, and spaceships zoom in and out of sight.

“You’re awake,” someone says behind him, gruffly. Kai spins around. It’s a hulk of a man, with messy hair and scars crisscrossing his face and arms.

“Um,” he says.

“You know, you’re not really what I expected,” the man says, cocking his head. “As an emperor.”

Kai feels his face flush. “Well, I’m _sorry_ that I’m not up to your expectations, considering I got knocked out before I was supposed to attend something that could spell the difference between peace and the destruction of my entire country and woke up minutes ago in a strange place having probably erred on the destruction side.”

The man just gives him a grin. “Cinder’s in the back, fixing a podship,” he says, jerking his head behind him.

Kai eyes him warily, before walking off. He finally sees two legs, one human, one metal, poking out from under a podship.

“Cinder,” he says, cautiously, quietly.

She slides out from underneath, dressed in what he’d seen when he first met her - a loose tank top and baggy cargo pants. There are the usual grease stains running along her arms.

“You’re up,” she says, sitting up. Before she can stand up, Kai sits down next to her, against the podship. She stays where she is, but she doesn’t look at him. “That’s - that’s good.”

“Cinder,” he says, and she still doesn’t look at him. Instead, she takes his arm, tracing the fading letters on them.

_Get ready,_ it says, still.

“Don’t you think you could’ve given me a better warning?” Kai asks, teasingly.

Cinder gives him a glare. “I wasn’t going to warn you at all,” she protests.

“Yeah, because you were ghosting me,” Kai pouts.

“I didn’t - I didn’t think it was right,” Cinder begins, haltingly. Kai has a million other questions running through her head, mostly the important ones about _what in heavens was he doing here in the first place_ , but this - this is what he wants to hear.

“I mean, I’m just a _mechanic_ ,” Cinder continues. She fiddles with a piece of hair that’s fallen out of her usual ponytail. “And a _cyborg_ , of all things. You’re an emperor. Every girl in New Beijing is in love with you, and there are plenty out there who are beautiful and smart and - well, human. Even if there was something like fate, like destiny, like soulmates, I didn’t think we’d really belong together. I thought - I thought if you knew that it was _me_ , you wouldn’t want me anymore. And, so I figured I might as well just stop replying. Because I didn’t - I didn’t really deserve it, I guess?”

Her eyes flit over to him as she finishes her sentence in a question.

“Stars, Cinder, you are an idiot,” he says, cupping her face in his hands and drawing her close. “That’s not something for you to decide. And, for the record - “ Kai leans in here, placing his lips on hers, and _stars_ , it feels so right, the warmth of her face under his hands and the softness of her lips and everything, just _everything_.

“I do want you,” he says.

Cinder just looks at him like her brain’s short-circuited - which he’s not sure could actually happen - but then she gives him a bashful sort of smile, one that makes his heart somehow leap even higher than it already had.

Kai clears his throat.

“Now that that’s sorted out, can you tell me what on Earth is going on here?”

**Author's Note:**

> my writing skills are very rusty forgive me


End file.
